South Africa's Minister Of Telecommunications And Postal Services Among Keynote Speakers For Digitize Africa 2017

Organizers of the upcoming Digitize Africa 2017 conference, which is set to take place in Durban from 18 to 20 April 2017, have announced that South Africa's Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele, will be one of the keynote speakers at the event. The other keynote speakers announced include South African Minister of Home Affairs (Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize), Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services (Ms. Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams), the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal (Mr. Willies Mchunu), KZN MEC of Economic Development and Tourism (Mr. Sihle Zikalala), and MEC of Education in Gauteng (Mr. Panyaza Lesufi).

Minister Cwele is scheduled to speak on 18 April 2017 during the opening ceremony of the conference alongside the Kwa-Zulu Natal Premier. Deputy Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams will speak in the morning of 19 April 2017 and will precede the panel discussion on the South African National ICT Policy White Paper.

“Clearly, there’s a lot of good work being done in the Department, and we are looking at ways of improving our services to our citizens. For us to achieve this, we need to be on the cutting edge of the 4th industrial revolution”, said Minister Mkhize. “We consider this event as one of the platforms we will be using to engage with ICT practitioners and solution providers, while at the same time we also update key stakeholders about how Home Affairs is digitizing its services”. Mkhize is also the former Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services.

“The 4th industrial revolution is upon us. We cannot be passive during this important revolution, but we need to use digitization to enhance the quality of our education”, said Minister Lesufi who is set to speak on 19 April during the Digitizing Education track at the conference.

Vika Mpisane, Chair of Digitize Africa 2017 Organizing Committee and CEO of ZADNA, concluded by saying that “This line up of speakers certainly means delegates will tap into a wide range of expertise and insight in the provision and regulation of digital products and services”,

Cover Image: South Africa's Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services